Mom asked for an attorney, and after that, she stopped answering questions.
Deputy Collins didn't argue with her. He simply nodded, took a step back, and told Elena that they needed to secure the evidence before anything could disappear.
I watched Mom closely.
She wasn't crying.
She wasn't shouting anymore either.
She stood beside her suitcase with both hands wrapped around the handle, staring at the floor as if she were trying to calculate how much everyone already knew.
Derek looked at her differently now.
Not like a fiancé who was angry about a broken engagement.
Not even like a man who had discovered financial deception.
He looked like someone realizing that the person he thought he knew had been making plans without him.
Sarah came and sat beside me.
“Are you okay?”
I nodded automatically.
Then I shook my head.
“I don't know.”
“That makes sense.”
I looked at Mom.
“Did she really plan to take me somewhere?”
Sarah didn't answer immediately.
“I don't know what she planned.”
“But she said there were plans.”
“She did.”
“And my passport is in a locker.”
“Yes.”
I pressed my palms together.
“Why would she leave me here if she wanted to take me?”
Sarah glanced toward Elena.
“Maybe she needed to go ahead first.”
That answer frightened me more than anything else.
Deputy Collins returned to the room with his phone in his hand.
“The airport has been contacted.”
Mom looked up.
“You can't search a private locker without authorization.”
“We're not searching it yet.”
“You just said you contacted them.”
“To preserve the locker.”
Mom's jaw tightened.
“Preserve it for what?”
“For a warrant.”
She didn't respond.
Derek sat down heavily.
“Valerie, just tell them what's in there.”
She looked at him.
“I already said I want an attorney.”
“You're protecting something.”
“I am protecting myself.”
“From what?”
She stared at him.
“You wouldn't understand.”
He gave a humorless laugh.
“I think I've understood enough tonight.”
I looked down at my notebook.
The pages felt different now.
Before, they had been a place where I recorded small things because nobody seemed to remember them.
Now they were part of an investigation.
The thought made me uncomfortable.
I didn't want my private thoughts read by strangers.
But I also didn't want anyone saying none of this had happened.
Elena seemed to notice.
“You don't have to keep explaining everything tonight.”
“I want to.”
“Why?”
“Because if I stop talking, Mom will say I misunderstood.”
Elena's expression softened.
“Then we'll document what you remember carefully.”
The next morning, I woke at Sarah's house to the smell of toast.
For a moment, I forgot everything.
Then I remembered the airport locker.
I remembered my father.
I remembered Mom standing on the porch.
I remembered the amount of money missing from my account.
My appetite disappeared.
Sarah found me sitting at the kitchen table.
“You don't have to eat right away.”
“I want to.”
She put a plate in front of me.
I took one bite.
Then another.
My phone rang.
It was Elena.
She asked if I was awake.
“Yes.”
“I have some information.”
I stopped chewing.
“What happened?”
“The court authorized investigators to examine the airport locker.”
My hand tightened around the toast.
“When?”
“This morning.”
“What's inside?”
“We don't know everything yet.”
“You called to tell me that.”
“I called because your father has arrived.”
My heart jumped.
“Where?”
“He's at the courthouse with his attorney.”
I looked toward the window.
“Can I see him?”
“Not yet.”
I tried to hide my disappointment.
“He asked about you.”
“What did he say?”
“He wants to follow the court's instructions.”
That sounded like him.
Careful.
Patient.
Not demanding.
“What about Mom?”
“She has an attorney now.”
“Did she say anything?”
“No.”
I put the toast down.
“Did they find the locker?”
“Yes.”
“What was inside?”
Elena paused.
“A suitcase.”
I waited.
“Documents.”
“What documents?”
“Several things connected to travel.”
My stomach tightened.
“Anything else?”
“A second passport.”
“For Mom?”
“No.”
I stopped breathing.
“For me?”
“Yes.”
I looked at Sarah.
She had been listening from across the kitchen.
“A second passport?”
Elena said, “Yes.”
“Why would I have two?”
“We're still determining that.”
“Is one fake?”
“We don't know.”
The word fake made my skin prickle.
Elena continued.
“There were also copies of your birth certificate, school records, medical records, and a folder containing photographs.”
“Photographs of what?”
“Of you.”
I stared at the table.
“Recent photographs?”
“Yes.”
“How recent?”
“Within the last few months.”
“Who took them?”
“We don't know.”
Sarah came closer.
“Were there pictures of anyone else?”
Elena paused again.
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“Your mother. Derek. And a man we haven't identified.”
My heart started pounding.
“What man?”
“We're working on that.”
I didn't ask anything else.
After the call ended, Sarah sat beside me.
“You don't have to figure this out.”
“But I want to know who he is.”
“We will.”
“What if Mom was going to take me away?”
Sarah looked at me.
“Then the adults handling this will make sure she can't do it.”
I wanted to believe her.
That afternoon, Elena came to the house.
She brought a folder.
She sat across from me at the dining table and opened it carefully.
“I need to show you something.”
Inside was a photograph.
It showed Mom standing outside a building.
Beside her was a man I had never seen.
He was tall, with dark hair and a gray jacket.
“Do you recognize him?”
I shook my head.
“Have you ever seen him around the house?”
“No.”
“Think carefully.”
“I've never seen him.”
Elena placed another photograph beside it.
Mom and the same man were sitting at a café.
Then another.
A parking lot.
Another.
An airport.
I stared at the pictures.
“What is he doing with her?”
“We don't know yet.”
“Did he take these?”
“No. Investigators found them among the documents.”
I frowned.
“Why would Mom keep pictures of herself?”
“That is one of the questions.”
Then Elena placed down a printed document.
It was a reservation.
One-way flight.
Two passengers.
Destination: Honolulu.
Date: four days from now.
My hands went cold.
“That's after she came back.”
“Yes.”
“She planned to go again.”
“Apparently.”
“With me?”
“The reservation lists two passengers.”
“Who?”
Elena turned the page.
My name was there.
So was Mom's.
I stared at it.
“But she already went.”
“Yes.”
“Then why make another reservation?”
“We don't know.”
I thought about the second passport.
The photographs.
The copies of my records.
The man.
The airport locker.
The missing money.
Something connected them.
I just couldn't see how.
“What about Dad?”
“What about him?”
“Did Mom know he was coming?”
Elena nodded.
“She knew he was pursuing custody.”
“Then why would she plan to take me?”
“We don't know that she intended to.”
“But the tickets—”
“Show a plan. They don't tell us everything about the plan.”
I nodded.
That distinction mattered.
I didn't want to believe something simply because it frightened me.
That was something I had learned from keeping the notebook.
Write what happened.
Not what you think happened.
That evening, Derek came to Sarah's house.
He stood outside for several seconds before knocking.
When I opened the door, he didn't step inside.
“Can I talk to you?”
I looked at Sarah.
She nodded.
Derek sat on the porch.
“I need to apologize.”
“For what?”
“For believing your mother.”
I sat across from him.
“You didn't know.”
“I should have.”
“How?”
“She told me you were staying with friends.”
“She told everyone something different.”
“I know.”
He looked exhausted.
“I believed what was easiest.”
I didn't understand.
“What do you mean?”
“I wanted the wedding. I wanted the life she described. I didn't ask enough questions.”
I looked at the porch railing.
“Did she ever talk about Hawaii before?”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Months.”
“Why didn't she take me?”
He looked at me.
“I thought you were going with her.”
“She didn't tell you I wasn't?”
“No.”
“Then what did you think?”
“That you were staying with Sarah.”
I stared at him.
“Mom told Sarah I was with Chloe.”
Derek closed his eyes.
“She lied to everyone.”
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
He reached into his pocket.
“I found something.”
He handed me a folded receipt.
It was from a storage company.
Not the airport.
A private storage facility outside the city.
The rental agreement was under Mom's name.
The start date was six months earlier.
“What's there?”
“I don't know.”
“Have you been inside?”
“No.”
“Why are you showing me?”
“Because I think you deserve to know.”
Sarah took the receipt and gave it to Elena when she arrived.
Elena read it.
“This facility isn't listed in the documents we have.”
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“It means investigators will need to look into it.”
Derek stood.
“There is something else.”
He looked at me.
“Your mother once told me your father was dangerous.”
I stared at him.
“Was he?”
“I don't know.”
“She said he couldn't be trusted.”
“Did you believe her?”
“At the time.”
“And now?”
He looked toward the street.
“I don't know what to believe.”
I understood that feeling.
For years, my world had been built from things Mom told me.
Now every answer seemed to have another answer behind it.
The next morning, investigators searched the storage facility.
I wasn't there.
Elena called me afterward.
“There are boxes.”
“How many?”
“Several.”
“What's inside?”
“Clothes. Documents. Household items.”
“Anything about me?”
“Yes.”
My stomach tightened.
“What?”
“School records.”
“Again?”
“Yes.”
“Photographs.”
“Again?”
“Yes.”
“Passports?”
“No.”
I exhaled.
Then Elena said, “There's also a folder with your name on it.”
“What does it say?”
“Medical information.”
“I don't have medical problems.”
“I know.”
“What kind of medical information?”
“We're still reviewing it.”
I didn't like that answer.
“Is there something wrong with me?”
“No.”
“Then why does she have medical records?”
Elena hesitated.
“Because some of the records are from a hospital you have never been treated at.”
I felt a chill.
“What hospital?”
She gave me the name.
I didn't recognize it.
“What was she doing there?”
“We don't know.”
I looked at Sarah.
She was watching my face.
“Was Dad there?”
“No.”
“Derek?”
“No.”
“Who was?”
“We're still identifying the people involved.”
I sat down.
The investigation had started with an empty refrigerator.
Now it seemed to stretch backward through years of my life.
That afternoon, Deputy Collins called.
“The man in the photographs has been identified.”
My heart pounded.
“Who is he?”
“His name is Martin Hale.”
“Who is that?”
“He worked with your mother several years ago.”
“Where?”
“An insurance company.”
“Why was he with her?”
“We're looking into that.”
“Is he dangerous?”
“I have no information indicating that.”
I let out a breath.
“Then why does he have pictures of me?”
“That is the question.”
He paused.
“We found his name in another document.”
“What document?”
“A life-insurance application.”
I stared at the phone.
“Whose life?”
“Yours.”
My mouth went dry.
“I'm eleven.”
“I know.”
“Why would someone insure my life?”
“We're trying to determine who requested it.”
“Mom?”
“Her name appears on the paperwork.”
I couldn't speak.
“Was it approved?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Medical documentation was incomplete.”
I remembered the hospital records.
The unknown doctor.
The second passport.
The photographs.
The insurance application.
The storage unit.
The Hawaii reservation.
For the first time, I wondered whether the story Mom had told everyone about my life had been hiding something much more deliberate.
Deputy Collins spoke gently.
“Maya, I need you to remember something.”
“What?”
“Don't confront your mother about any of this.”
“I won't.”
“If she contacts you, let Elena know.”
“Okay.”
He paused.
“And if you remember anything about Martin Hale, even something small, tell us.”
I closed my eyes.
Then I remembered.
A gray jacket.
A man waiting beside a parked car.
A hand resting on the roof.
A voice from years ago.
I opened my eyes.
“I think I've seen him before.”
The line went silent.
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
“Try.”
I looked toward the window.
“Outside my school.”
Click here to continue reading: PART 6: The Man in the Gray Jacket Had Appeared Years Earlier, and One Forgotten Afternoon Finally Explained Why His Name Was in My Mother’s Files
She Said I Was Staying With Friends, But By the Third Night I Realized I Was Completely Alone
Part 5 of 20
